Tuesday, June 1, 2010

One evening, I was talking to my mom asking for the race details of the Power Kids Run. Our discussion shifted to foot strike and how it affects one's performance on a race. She explained that doing a "forefoot" strike is much more efficient than a midfoot strike because you lose time if you allow your heel to kiss the ground. Midfoot strike is where you land your feet where both the ball and heel touches the ground.

A related study has been presented by the National Strength and Conditioning Association
"foot strike patterns are related to running speed. The percentage of RFS (heel striker) increases with the decreasing of the running speed; conversely, the percentage of MFS (midfoot striker) increases as the running speed increases. A shorter contact time and a higher frequency of inversion at the foot contact might contribute to higher running economy"

Though her description is somewhat different to which a forefoot strike is defined as landing on the ball of your feet then followed by your heel. Imagine a forefoot runner that goes through the land_ball, land_heel, lift_heel, lift_ball cycle. You need to let the heel to land because your calves will cry like crazy. Well mine do. Landing the heels allows your calves to "rest" every stride. However the no_heel-forefoot strike was how they were trained in order to pick up the speed

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About Me

Manila, Philippines

In his quest of surpassing a friend's personal best, he followed his mum's advise (a sprinter back in the day) and adopted natural/minimalist running as his weapon of choice. His passion for running has led his feet to international marathon events.

A firm believer that nutrition is as important as your tempo runs on Thursday nights and that you have to develop mental toughness in order to finish a full marathon. His no-nonsense, no sugar-coating writing style has gotten him into some trouble and his blog was born out of a desire to help others better themselves

This website features a cross section of a variety of subject mainly on minimalist and barefoot running. And my take on the running craze in the Philippines. Feedback is always welcome, so feel free to contact me anytime at barefootdaves(at)yahoo(dot)com